Nicaragua adventures

Adventures on Ometepe Island in Nicaragua. Read about the adventures at Ash's website ! 

- - - - - >>>>>>  The Most Alive

Sailing the San Blas Islands

Read all about my time sailing through the stunning San Blas Islands at Ash's website! 

- - - - - >>>>>    The Most Alive

Cartagena, Colombia

My next stop after Cali, Colombia was Cartagena.  I jetted off to the north east point of Colombia facing out into the Caribbean sea and was welcomed by an amazingly overwhelming humidity and heat. 

Spent a couple of days getting to know this old pirate town and preparing for my sail to Panama. Cartagena is such a beautiful town with it's old forts, old town streets and beautiful island havens just off the coast.  

Beautiful Streets of the Old City.

Amazing monuments and buildings from the colonial era. 

Beautiful Streets of the Old City

San Felipe de Barajas Castle; The fort that protected the city from pirates

During the days that followed I had the opportunity to visit some of the surrounding highlights of Cartagena. 

These included Playa Blanca and the Mud volcano. 

Playa Blanca & Isla Del Rosario 

This was a day trip out to visit the Island of Rosario and spend some time at Playa Blanca. It was fun being able to jump off the boat and snorkel in the Caribbean sea off the coast of Colombia. 

It is also possible to stay at Playa Blanca although I found it to be to over-crowded with locals constantly trying to sell bits and pieces and don't think I could handle it for more then a few hours. 

We did enjoy a lovely fresh fish lunch which was all included in our day trip. 

 Volcan de Lodo El Totumo (Mud volcano)

 This is not an experience for everybody. Some of the people that were there with me couldn't bring themselves to go into the volcano. However I loved it! 

Such a weird experience but I really enjoyed covering myself in mud. A worthy day trip I'd say. 45 minutes out of Cartagena in the town Totumo is a little active volcano bubbling with mud.

        

After emerging yourself in the mud you can receive a massage for $1 or just spend the rest of the time bopping around in the muck. A very surreal feeling because it is impossible to push yourself any lower due to the mud being very thick. It makes for a great laugh. 

On the way back to Cartagena we stopped at a pretty little beach for the afternoon, were we could swim and enjoy another fresh fish lunch. 

Cali, Colombia. (Mission trip report)

After spending Easter in Lima, Peru I boarded a plane for Colombia. Months prior I had signed up to join a missions trip in Cali, Colombia with Gary Oates Ministries.

 I didn't know exactly what I had signed myself up for, all I knew is that I had a strong sense I was meant to be there. However nothing could've of prepared me for what I actually experienced during these 8 days in Cali. 

First of all I didn't know what to expect of the team I was going to be joining. I had never been on a missions trip like this before and all I knew is that the ministry team was from the US, which could mean all sorts of things (If you know what I mean). 

I was however completely blown away by the amazing people that I met and be-friended on the trip. Saying goodbye at the end of the week was like leaving family. 

The team was made up of Canadians, Americans, Colombians and some more Aussies like me and I'm so honoured to have been able to spend the week with such lovely, fun and inspiring people. 

During our days in Cali we visited orphanages, day cares, a women's program, high school and a men's prison. During the evenings we attended church groups and youth meetings to pray for people's healing and to see God move miraculously. 

Now for some people reading right now... this whole thing might not even seem real, may seem stupid or you might even be laughing at the fact that I would go and spend a week like this 'expecting' God to show up. 

The thing is he actually did! 

He totally blew my mind - again. 

My life was changed over and over again during this week as I witnessed the signs and wonders of God and I wondered once again does anything else actually matter then experiencing the upmost ecstasy of the supernatural - the glory of God. 

I prayed for people during this week in the name of Jesus and saw countless numbers of people healed, some from life long issues. These were some of my highlights: 

• Young Girl burst her eardrum 7 years prior and couldn’t afford an operation. She was practically deaf in one ear. Prayed and she was instantly healed. We tested her hearing by getting her to put her finger in one ear while we spoke to her out of the other one. She said she could hear perfectly.

•   A man in his 70’s was completely deaf in one ear for 30 years. He couldn’t hear anything at all when we first started (We tested). The first time I prayed he got to about 30% (We used the other ear as the indicator) after praying for him again and again and seeing a 10% increase each time he received 100% healing!! 

•  Another man from the prison had an infection in his intestines for 8 days and could only be fed through a drip. Prayed for him and the pain left instantly. He could bend and move with no problems and he said he was looking forward to being able to eat food again.  

•   One lady had tinnitus in her ears for 1 year. Prayed a couple of times and the noises in her ears started to decrease until finally it all left. Same lady had bells palsy in her face. Her left side had dropped in the last 24hrs and she had lost feeling. When we were finished praying, her face was back to normal!

PRAISE JESUS!

These were only a couple of my own personal highlights. The work of God, I witnessed before my very eyes.  Below are the stats from the whole team for the week: 

428    Salvations
749    Healings
79     Blind or vision impaired healed
35     Deaf or hearing impaired healed
43     Lame or difficulty walking
22     Tumors, lumps or cysts disappeared
243    Inner healings and/or deliverance

Some of the team :) 

Not only did I experience other people being touched by God, but I also had my own experiences during the week that I will never forget.

I was constantly overwhelmed by compassion when we went into the schools and orphanages and my heart felt like it was constantly going to burst with love for the little kids. I wanted to take them all home! 

One of the most memorable experiences though was the day we were going to go into the prison. Yes - the colombian, maximum security male prison. Below is my personal experience. 

My prison experience 
I was completely overwhelmed with fear about entering a prison. I had never been inside a prison before let alone a maximum security prison in Colombia. I was almost tempted to skip out on the entire thing and couldn't see how I could be of any use with the wild thoughts running through my head. However I did go and with the encouragement and prayers of my team, I ended up being surprisingly excited. As we went through all the security checks of being patted down, sniffer-dogged, stamped, passport check etc. I was actually full of excitement and joy which was a big contrast to the 30mins prior. We ended up visiting the older gentleman, the ones who had done a lot of time and some who were nearly (finally!) ready to be let out. I felt so humbled by their attitudes and for the majority of them their absolute love of God. I loved them and was so glad to of met them. We had an opportunity to pray for the men that needed healing. There were a lot that were healed of stomach and health problems. Their gratitude and appreciation for our visit and to God was so touching. I will always remember this day. The day I went to prison because I felt like my life was changed in a small way along with them. 

My final statement 

I can't deny the realness of God and how he does move in our lives today. His presence is real and tangible - I've seen it and I believe it. I really dis-like religion, I don't like fake and controlling institutions in our world. 

I know a lot of people that have been hurt by places and people that come under the 'christian' title. Myself included. 

However I've experienced the real love of God and it has nothing to do with humans. I've experienced peoples lives changed by this love. I've been loved on, encouraged and prayed for by these same people. 

I love Jesus, I believe in his teachings, I am constantly in awe of his greatness and the supernatural experiences I have had. I'm in constant wonder of the goodness of God and his grace. 

Finally this is only a mini-report from the whole trip so if people reading are interested in getting the whole report which is broken down daily and also a full list of the testimonies then just let me know! 

After I arrived back in Santiago a few weeks ago I made my way quickly up to the south of Peru for a fun few days in some of it's incredible desert town. You can read all about it at themostalive.com 

Soon to come my updates on Colombia and an unbelievable 5 days in the San Blas islands. 

It just keeps getting better. 

My Little Patagonia video... 

Video snippets from my 2 weeks in Patagonia. Such fun memories made. 

Chillen in Chile. Part 2

Travelling the world and experiencing God's masterpieces is one of humanity's greatest privileges. I feel like I have seen so much and there is SO much more to go... 

After Valparaiso I came back to Santiago and joined a hop on/hop off bus tour called  Pachamama.  Unlike other bus companies in Chile, the Pachamama has a tour guide and takes you off the beaten track so you can stop and see the real Chile instead of going straight from A to B. 

I joined the south of Chile route which is shown below on this map... 

First stop was  Pichilemu !

Known as the surf capital this is a really fun beach town which is thriving with beach activity. They even had a massive free areobics work out on the beach that as most of my family and friend would know I throughly enjoyed.                                            It had been years since I had a turn of surfing so I thought what better place to give it a go then here in Chile. After many failed attempts and braving the artic water I caught a couple of nice little waves that I was able to ride to the end. I think I will need to take up surfing properly when I'm back in Australia. 

Pucon

I was really excited to go to this mountain town. Pucon is famous for being able to do a variety of activities and is full of tourists, however it is a beautiful location and one of my favourite places ( I have a lot! ) 

Unfortunately we didn't have good enough weather to be able to climb the volcano so I opted to go white water rafting instead - great choice!

First time white water rafting and it was a level 4. Best fun and I'm ready to try a level 6 now. Couldn't believe I hadn't been before as it was definitely one of the funnest activities I have experienced. We had a great time in Pucon in a nice little hostel that put on chilean BBQ's each night for all the guests. 

                         Valdivia 

Valdivia is a  very pretty town. From a beautiful night cruise on the calle-calle river to more authentic chilean food and Cueca dancing at the Valdivia food festival, it was definitely a great time!  

Puerto Montt

Puerto Montt was the gateway to an amazing three days on Chiloe island and then two spectacular weeks in Patagonia.  

You can read about Chiloe at Ash's website themostalive.com/Chiloe

and also Patagonia themostalive.com/patagonia

Also check out my Patagonia video on Youtube::  Patagonia Travels  

I rejoined the Patagonia bus tour 2 weeks later in Puerto Varas to finish the journey back to Santiago. 

Salta Del Lajo Waterfall 

Balduzzi Winery

One of my favourite stops was the Balduzzi Winery. Which was an Italian winery that was establised in Chile back in the early 1900's. Here are some pictures from the stop:

This is what happens when an earthquake hits a winery.

Got to try the wine straight out of the giant canisters.  

Pretty Balduzzi winery. 

Of course the wine had to be tasted.